


Up in the Air

by LeChatNoir1918



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: F/M, Some angst and fluff, in an airplane, let's pretend the scenario makes sense, stress so much stress
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:13:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27442468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeChatNoir1918/pseuds/LeChatNoir1918
Summary: For the third heat of the flashfic challenge!Prompt: "Stuck together for a long flight AU + the words "No", eye, flash
Relationships: Phryne Fisher & Jack Robinson
Comments: 15
Kudos: 58
Collections: Miss Fisher's Flashfic Challenge Heat 3





	Up in the Air

**Author's Note:**

> This was even more stressful than the last one, I honestly can't handle it, no clue what I even wrote here. But once again, hope you enjoy! And prepare to give me some leeway where the realism of the situation is concerned.
> 
> Many mistakes I'm sure, please ignore those again.

Jack was massaging his temple as he waited for his flight to board, sitting in the waiting area before the gate. A few seats over was a woman with a screaming baby who he sincerely hoped wouldn’t be seated next to him. As bad as he felt for the mother, he had a 14 hour flight ahead of him that he wanted to spend mostly asleep. 

“Jack? Jack!” 

He froze as the familiar voice registered at once, and he whirled around in his seat, his muscles responding before he could stop them. What on earth was she doing here?

He asked her as much when she rounded the row of seats to plop herself down next to him. 

“Flying to England,” Phryne stated, confirming what Jack had feared. This was not happening. 

He had done his absolute best to avoid her after he had walked out of her house a few weeks before, determined to cut her from his life permanently. He had let her get too close to his heart. Hell, he’d let himself get too close to hers. It had seemed like the right thing to do at the time. 

But staying apart from her had proven to be more difficult than he would have thought, and so he had made the rash decision to use his saved up vacation days. He had a friend from the police academy in London that he hadn’t seen in ages and who offered for Jack to visit during their last call. And why the hell shouldn’t he do what he wanted to, for once? 

And now Phryne was on the same flight. To England. She had to be stalking him, there was no other way, Jack thought and felt anger flare up inside of him. How dare she invade his personal space like this. 

“Are you insane?” he hissed, further aggravated by the look of confusion on her face as if she didn’t know exactly what her scheme was. “This is… this is a stalking charge waiting to happen.” 

She looked as if she was about to slap him, he saw her hand twitch in fact, though she clenched her fist, opting for a look of pure offense instead.

“How dare you.” She hissed right back, trying to keep her voice low as they were already getting a few looks. 

“My mother is in hospital, asshole. I didn’t know you were even leaving the country, much less on which flight.” The words were delivered sharp as a whip and Jack jolted back slightly as he realized his mistake, now noticing that there were dark rings underneath Phryne’s eyes. 

“I’m sorr…”

“No, you know what, fuck you, Jack.” Phryne swore quietly, her eyes flashing with fury as she picked up her carry on again and relocated to the opposite side of the terminal, not bothering to give him another look. 

Jack sighed, his mood significantly more grim now than it had been. Even when flying to England he apparently couldn’t escape the cosmic forces determined to keep them together. And then he messed it all up by making presumptions that hadn’t had real basis to begin with. She had actually seemed… happy to see him, when she had first sat down. But he had disappointed her yet again. Maybe it was all for the best. 

When first class was called, Jack chanced a look towards the counter, and sure enough Phryne was standing in line, focused on her phone. He felt himself relax slightly. With her flying first, they at least wouldn’t be running into each other on the plane. 

***

Jack had just sat down in his seat, economy, of course, when he heard the screaming baby again. He didn’t look up, hoping that the woman would just pass him. Instead he watched her stop right next to his row, sliding into the aisle seat. The baby kept on screaming. The mother sent Jack an apologetic look, obviously embarrassed by the situation, and Jack tried to give her an understanding smile before turning back to look out the window with a sigh. So much for a relaxing flight. He put on his noise-cancelling headphones, though they didn’t do all that much noise-cancelling, and tried to go to sleep. 

He wasn’t sure what time it was when he woke up, the cabin dark except for the overhead light at his seat, the mother next to him trying to soothe her child, which by the looks of it was still screaming. A flight attendant came down the aisle, speaking with the woman in hushed tones and Jack found himself taking off his headphones out of curiosity. 

He could only make out pieces over the noises of the plane and the baby, but he thought he heard “first class.... nice enough… maybe he can sleep… thank her.”

The flight attendant left and the woman next to Jack noticed he was watching, leaning over while bouncing her crying child on her lap. _You’d think the baby would get tired at some point_ , Jack thought wryly. 

“A passenger in first class offered up her seat for me,” the woman explained gratefully. “We’re hoping Philip here will be able to sleep there.” 

Jack nodded with a smile, noticing the other passengers all being equally relieved as the woman grabbed her bag and then headed down the aisle towards the stairs to the upper level, taking her screaming child with her.He turned off the light above and settled back into his seat, turning on his monitor for the first time to browse through the program they had to offer. He glanced at the corner of the screen and sighed. 13 hours to go. 

He had just picked out a movie to watch, when he noticed the flight attendant coming back towards him, another passenger in tow. Even in the dark light of the cabin Jack could make out her distinctive bob, silhouetting her head. _No._

“Thank you so much again, Miss Fisher,” the flight attendant said in a quiet voice, though Phryne wasn’t listening as she spotted who she’d be sharing a row with. Out of all the damn people in this airplane. The universe had a cruel way of working.

“What? Oh, no problem.” She smiled absently, wondering if she could somehow reverse her decision. But the baby had been audible even up on the second level, when in the aisles, anyway, and as much as she despised babies, she had felt bad for the mother as well as everyone else on the plane and so she had approached a flight attendant about the possibility to switch seats.

“We will be contacting you about a voucher,” the flight attendant assured her once again and Phryne nodded, trying not to regret her act of kindness as she stowed her bag in the compartment above the seat before sliding into her spot, leaving the middle seat where the baby had been empty. The flight attendant expressed her gratefulness one last time before leaving. 

“You’ve got to be kidding.” Phryne then spoke, glancing sideways at Jack who, to her satisfaction, looked extremely uncomfortable with this development. 

“That was nice of you,” Jack just said in response, deciding not to stoke the fires further.

"Well, you know me," she replied dryly.

Jack nodded. Her acts of kindness, out of the genuine goodness of her heart, never failed to surprise and impress him. The fact that she offered up a comfortable bed for a 13 hour trip was just an extreme example of that. 

“I’m sure the passengers in first class are delighted as well.” 

“Oh, everyone has their own cabin up there. It’s almost soundproof, especially with the sound of the plane,” she shrugged casually and Jack tried not to look like what she was describing was so far from his own world that he hadn’t even known such a thing existed. 

“Quite a downgrade then.” 

Phryne gave him a look, that quite plainly said that he was the only real downgrade to the current situation. He knew she had inherited wealth and was about the furthest thing from out of touch with the real world. 

She rummaged around in her purse until she found her headphones, plugging them into the monitor before she started scrolling through. Jack turned back to his own screen, sensing that she didn’t want to talk. 

_11 hours to go_

Jack finished his movie, having managed most of it without glancing over at Phryne to see what she was doing. Every time he had looked over she had looked straight ahead at the screen. 

This time when he looked over he saw her eyelids drooping, her head jerking up every time her neck sank down to the side. He was surprised by the wave of affection that overcame him as he saw her struggling not to fall asleep, or rather to find a comfortable sleeping position. He watched her for a few more moments before taking a deep breath and leaning over to touch her on the shoulder. 

Phryne’s head jerked up and she looked at him with blurry eyes, the dark circles under her eyes even more exaggerated now.

“Do you need to get up?” She asked sleepily and Jack felt his heart clench. 

“No, I was just... I wanted to say that you’re welcome to take the window seat to sleep.”

Phryne was visibly surprised but too exhausted to really argue, the thought of a wall to lean her head against more appealing than trying to uphold grudges. “What about you?” 

“I’m not that tired yet,” Jack lied. 

“Alright.” Phryne nodded and they rearranged themselves, Jack taking the few moments standing in the aisle to stretch his tired muscles. 

“Don’t think this… thing is settled though,” Phryne stated as she slid back into the row. Jack nodded seriously. He knew it would take some conversation to fix them. He wanted to fix them, he suddenly realized. Seeing her again was making that all the more clear.

“But thank you.” Phryne added sincerely as she pillowed her head against the wall of the cabin, drawing her legs up onto the seat as she curled up to sleep. 

  
  


_8 hours to go_

Jack must have nodded off, he realized. He had watched another movie and started a third one but had apparently fallen asleep in the middle of it, the sound still playing in his ear through the headphones. He couldn’t see the screen, however, the screen blocked by a human body. One that was also sitting on his lap. 

“What,” he mumbled as he wrinkled his brow in confusion, raising his eyes to find himself at eye level with someone’s; a woman’s cleavage, to be more precise. The next second the woman was off his lap, looking at him with a red face. Jack glanced around, glad to see that the passengers around him were all asleep and hadn’t witnessed whatever had just happened. 

“I’m so sorry Jack, I have to use the bathroom,” Phryne whispered, leaning closer to his ear so he could hear her. “I didn’t want to wake you.” 

Jack nodded once, jerkily, and Phryne hurried to the bathroom. Jack was now very much awake, trying not to replay the sensation of her in his lap in his mind. He quickly got up when he saw her returning, ushering her back into the row without bodily contact this time. On the bright side, Phryne did look a bit more well-rested than she had before.

_6 hours to go_

Phryne scrunched her nose at the food in front of her. It was good enough for airplane food, she supposed, though the difference to the first class menu was… large. She poked around in her overcooked chicken, wishing she had chosen the vegetarian option. Jack next to her was devouring his food, which brought a slight smile to her face. At times it seemed his appetite was larger than the man himself. 

He noticed her looking and chanced a smile, the smile widening when she returned it. Phryne dropped her eyes to his tray and Jack raised an eyebrow, already knowing what she was eyeing. He moved the breadroll out of the way to get to the dessert cup, holding it in his hand with a questioning look on his face. 

Phryne felt her eyes go wider at the sight of a second dessert and she bit her lip as she nodded, trying her best to imitate a pleading puppy. Just this once. 

A moment later she was happily digging into her second chocolate cake, a content smile on her face. Jack thought the loss of his dessert was worth it.

_5 hours to go_

“I’m bored,” Phryne announced as Jack got back from the bathroom. Her headphones were hanging around her neck and her screen was paused as she looked at him, though Jack wasn’t sure what she was expecting. 

“Me too.”

“Care for a game?” 

Jack looked at her digging around in her purse once more before she pulled out a small notebook and a couple of pens. 

“Tic Tac Toe, for example,” she said and Jack shrugged. He certainly preferred playing silly games over watching yet another movie. 

***

“This would be much easier if you sat next to me,” Phryne eventually said. 

Jack paused and then nodded, sliding into the middle seat next to her. 

“Hi.” He said quietly as they were suddenly much closer than before. “I’m sorry about before, at the gate, Phryne.” He finally apologized. “I shouldn’t have assumed.” 

“I know you are,” she replied with a sad smile. “And to be fair, the coincidence is… unreal.” 

Jack chuckled in agreement, before his face turned serious again. 

“Is your mom alright?” 

Phryne sighed, setting down the pen in front of her as she leaned back into the seat, starting to explain all he had missed during the last few weeks of absence from her life. And he did the same. 

_1 hour to go_

The hours had flown by as they had talked, catching up on everything important and then not so important. They hadn’t addressed that night in her house, something Jack was grateful for. He supposed they should talk about it eventually, but a plane on the way to England was not the time or place. 

How had he ever thought he’d be better off without her in his life, without her friendship?

He didn’t know when he had fallen asleep once again but this time he was woken up by the cabin lights coming back on, the flight attendants starting to pass out one last round of snacks. He shifted, only to freeze as he felt a weight on his shoulder. 

When he looked down it was to see Phryne, fast asleep against him, her cheek resting against his arm, her body curled up underneath the thin blanket the airline provided. Jack thought his heart might burst at the image and he took a deep breath before leaning his head back against the headrest, careful not to move an inch.

When the announcement came through that they were starting their descent, Phryne moved with a sigh, lifting her head to orientate herself, her eyes widening only slightly as she realized their position. Jack waited anxiously to see what she would do, trying to keep a lid on the emotions bubbling up inside of him when she leaned her head against him once more, her fingers seeking out his to squeeze them softly. Jack squeezed them back.

**Author's Note:**

> Posted with seconds to spare, I tell you. Also, let's assume that this flight they're on is either the first one and they have to take another connecting one, or they're on their second flight, depending on where they're stopping over. ANYWAY. AHHHHH stress. But a thousand thanks to whopooh and olderbynow for setting this up. ❤️


End file.
